The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 69:16-25, “Answer me, Yahweh, for your faithful love is generous; in your tenderness turn towards me;
17 do not turn away from your servant, be quick to answer me, for I am in trouble.
18 Come to my side, redeem me, ransom me because of my enemies.
19 You know well the insults, the shame and disgrace I endure. Every one of my oppressors is known to you.

20 Insult has broken my heart past cure. I hoped for sympathy, but in vain, for consolers — not one to be found.
21 To eat they gave me poison, to drink, vinegar when I was thirsty.
22 May their own table prove a trap for them, and their abundance a snare;
23 may their eyes grow so dim that they cannot see, all their muscles
lose their strength.”
24 Vent your fury on them, let your burning anger overtake them.
25 Reduce their encampment to ruin, and leave their tents untenanted…”

If you’ve ever cried out to the LORD for help, you understand the psalmist’s cry in the verses 16 through 21 above. We could easily feel
for anyone who was suffering such oppression at the hands of another.

Yet, with the commencement of verse 22, the “broken-hearted soul”
shows that he’s not so broken-hearted that he cannot rail viciously
against his oppressors. Go back and read verses 22-25 again. This
person wants the very worst of everything to fall on his oppressor!

Be honest, have you ever prayed like that? or have you ever earnestly
prayed for those who wished the worst on you– just because you are
who you are and believe what you believe?

What, honestly, ought you to do? For starters, please don’t do what
the psalmist wanted the LORD to do:

“Vent your fury on them, let your burning anger
overtake them. Reduce their encampment to ruin,
And leave their tents untenanted” (vv. 24-25).

There’s an old hymn that says,

“Where could I go? Oh, where could I go?
Seeking a rescue for my soul.
Needing a friend to help me in the end;
Where could I go but to the LORD?”

I suppose there’s a time for anger, just as for anything else. At the same
time, we would do well to examine ourselves. Might we not best follow
the steps of David, who wrote: “HOLD not my youthful sins against me, but remember me as Your faithful love dictates (Psa. 25:7)?

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom